USA

Federal authorities announced Tuesday that they had arrested six"Islamic radicals" from the former Yugoslavia on charges that they had plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey and "kill as many soldiers as possible." The men had conducted surveillance at other military institutions, a law enforcement official said. The suspects were scheduled to appear Tuesday in US District Court in Camden, N.J., after the Monitor's press time.

Hundreds of people in the central Plains fled their homes Monday to escape flooding caused by weekend storms. Rising water also blocked roads in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Iowa. The National Weather Service predicted massive floods in Missouri this week.

A Federal Reserve report released Monday said consumer borrowing grew at its fastest pace in four months, despite rising energy prices and a housing slump. Consumer credit grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in March, up from 2.8 percent growth in February.

The Senate voted Monday for an amendment that would require safety certification for drugs that come from foreign countries. It was added to a bill to legalize prescription drug importation by a vote of 49 to 40. The measure was intended to take advantage of the lower cost of many prescription drugs outside the US.

A deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department was demoted to commander Monday. Cayler "Lee" Carter Jr. was the highest-ranking official at the scene of a violent clash between officers and protestors and reporters at an immigration rally last week. Mr. Carter's second-in-command, Cmdr. Louis Gray, was also transferred to a post that has less authority.

Evacuations in central Florida continued Monday as growing wildfires neared residential areas. Altogether, some 260 wildfires in the state have spread across 19,000 acres. Firefighters in Minnesota and Georgia are also trying to contain blazes.